Interview conducted by Eileen Hurst. Katherine Leahy enlisted in the U.S. Navy, as a nurse in 1934. She lived in Bridgeport, CT at the time. Before joining the Navy she was a registered nurse working in a public hospital. She graduated with...

Interview conducted by Eileen Hurst. Richard Vickery joined the Army National Guard in 1981, at the age of 17. He went to basic training Fort Benning (Ga.), which he describes as the “gateway to hell”. After basic training he finished high...

Interview conducted by Gregg Cerosky. James J. Satterwhite graduated from West Point Military Academy in 1959 part of a class of 499. His first assignment was in Hawaii, first with the aviation company of the 25th Infantry Division, as an...

Interview conducted by Laura May Lachance and Benjamin Setelle. Jesse M. Harrison volunteered for the U.S. Air Force in 1942. He passed the required tests and attended flight school at Randolph Field, in San Antonio, TX. He aspired to be a...

Interview conducted by Lynette Yeomans. Anthony Buemi was drafted into the U.S. Army in September of 1944. He completed his basic training at Fort McClellan, AL, which lasted for 15 weeks, two weeks shorter than previously required. The shorter...

Interview conducted by Nathan Ferrance. Adelard Dusseault enlisted in the United States Air Force in the spring of 1953. He went to basic training at Sampson Air Force Base in New York. From there he was transferred to Lackland Air Force Base...

Interview conducted by Sarah Lawson. Phillip Davidson joined the U.S. Navy while he was at boarding school in Massachusetts. He was only 16 years old and required his parent’s signature in order to join. He thought of the navy as a “great...

Rose Murphy began her career as a nurse at Yale University Hospital. After Pearl Harbor was bombed and WWII began, she was called into active duty as an army nurse in the Southern Pacific.
She received her basic training in California, which...